Invicta
by GimmeBanjo
Summary: Before the investigation could even start, Booth stumbles across a girl who was only a memory, causing Brennan to re-evaluate what he means to her.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Invicta

Summary: Before the investigation could even start, Booth stumbles across a girl who was only a memory, causing Brennan to re-evaluate what he means to her.

I own nothing. Sometimes even the thoughts aren't mine.

A/N:This is my first foray into Bones, so please forgive me if I butcher it entirely. I've previously written House stuff, and if you've read anything I've done, you know I have a thing for secret relatives. Basically, they're my pawns to tell stories I want to tell without really having to stay within the confines of the show. I try to stay true to the show, however, as much as possible.

"Invicta" is the feminine form of one of my favorite Latin words, Invictus, which means invincible or unconquerable. That word applies to everything in this story: Love, family, and especially our heroes. And it just so happens that _Invictus_ is my favorite poem. I had an elementary school teacher make my class memorize it years and years ago and it just occurred to me now that it has a message that is probably not all too unfamiliar to our heroes. I bet they know the poem too.

_

* * *

Out of the night that covers me,  
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,  
I thank whatever gods may be  
For my unconquerable soul._

_In the fell clutch of circumstance  
I have not winced nor cried aloud.  
Under the bludgeonings of chance  
My head is bloody, but unbowed._

_Beyond this place of wrath and tears  
Looms but the Horror of the shade,  
And yet the menace of the years  
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid._

_It matters not how strait the gate,  
How charged with punishments the scroll.  
I am the master of my fate:  
I am the captain of my soul._

_ -_Invictus_, William Ernest Henley_

_

* * *

_

Booth held up the caution tape and Brennan passed gracefully under it. It was mid-morning, but the overcast sky lent itself to a sense of foreboding and uncertainty.

"Why are we here?" Brennan observed the façade of the building they were standing in front of. "This a bar?"

"Sure." Booth nodded. "It's called Filibusters. And it is _actually _a four star restaurant."

"Uh huh." She took in the dark stairwell down to an indistinct brown door with a deep breath.

"If by four star cuisine they mean Rat Tartar…" Booth mumbled, unknowingly stating Brennan's exact thoughts.

They carefully made their way down the slick steps and quickly the red and blue flashing police lights seems to disappear as they descended into darkness. Booth tentatively reached for the handle before it swung open and an unassuming police officer stood on the other side.

"Agent Booth? Doctor Brennan?" He asked with a smile before Booth could even produce his badge. They nodded in tandem. "Oh we've got bones for you." His grin spread from ear to ear as he ushered them in.

They climbed down another dark staircase and as they reached the bottom, the darkness faded into a warm, cheery glow. To their left was a large mahogany bar with plush bar stools in front and a multitude of liquor behind. In front of the bar was a sweeping expanse of floor space with little tables peppered throughout. With a low whistle, Booth looked up. Brennan followed his finger and looked up to a u-shaped balcony, encompassing the entire bar. Up there, they saw tables and chairs set for dinner service.

"Agent Booth?" The police officer interrupted their marveling. "This is Ed Ream, the owner."

He stepped aside and pulled a short, round man in front of them. He was balding, Booth took a guess that he was in his late 50s. He nervously took off this glasses and began wiping them on his shirt tail.

"Uh, FBI?" He asked nervously. "Look, I really need to be open tonight… if word gets out there was a dead body here…" He shook his head.

"Mr. Ream, where is the victim?" Brennan asked sharply

"Behind the bar." He pointed quickly than crossed his arms "But before anything else is said, I want to let you know I had the day off yesterday, I've got witnesses too." He nodded nervously. "But I called in the manager who closed last night. She should be here soon." He shot a smile behind Booth and Brennan and they slowly turned around to see what he was smiling at. "There she is, the little firecracker."

"Ream!" A petite female with rounded facial features, a short, polished blond bob, and wearing jeans and a George Washington University Law sweatshirt bounded down the last few steps. "I'm missing my Forensic Law mid-term, so this better be-" The book bag that had been draped over her shoulder slowly dropped to the floor. "FBI? You called the FBI? Why would they care if we got robbed?"

"We weren't robbed." Ed Ream shifted nervously. A murder happened here last night and in his mind, even though the blond was his favorite employee, he had no way of knowing if she was involved. "Kelly, this is Agent Booth and Doctor Brennan."

Kelly picked up her book bag and brushed past them, heading for the flight of stairs that led to the balcony.

"Is she running away?" Ed asked, still nervous for his prized manager.

"No." Booth said brusquely and pushed past Ed and followed quickly.

"I'm going to look at the remains now." Brennan called out after Booth and he waved his hand in the air as he ascended the steps. "Do have any idea who it is?" Brennan turned her attention back to Ed. "The body." She reminded

"Uh, no…" He shrugged. "I mean, I came in this morning and was setting up for lunch and I went into the fridge to do inventory and a mess of…" he shuttered "Grossness just fell out."

"The technical term is-" She started to explain but quickly noticed that it was useless. Ed was already nervously looking around calculating how long he had until dinner service should start.

Brennan sighed in frustration and continued to the remains behind the bar. Ed was right. Flowing out of the large refrigerator underneath the bar was a pile of grossness.

*

Booth carefully wove his way though the maze of tables chasing after the blond manager. He found her slouched on the floor in front of the door marked "office".

"I forgot my keys." She explained as he came up to her

"You should know you're a suspect."

"For what?" She looked up sharply

"There was a body found this morning." He stayed ten feet away, hovering around her.

"Well that's nice that all murder victims get the special attention of the FBI." She sneered

"The Health Department called it in." He explained.

"Surprise inspection?" She asked and Booth nodded. "What are the chances… the one day there's a dead body here…"

"Do you know anything about it?"

"If I did, do you think I would tell you?" She crossed her arms. "Traitor."

"This is serious, Kelly! Murder!" Booth shouted. "You're going to tell me right now if you had anything to do with this!"

Below them, Kelly heard the constant mumbling of the police and officials stop for a brief second, but it quickly started again.

"I'm in law school now." She said standing up. "I know my rights."

"You're requesting a lawyer?" He stepped back in amazement "I'm not even questioning you."

"No, you're letting me being here cloud your judgment." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm a prime suspect. So either you're going to take me in or you're going to let me go." She smiled a little "And if this thing ever goes to trial, anything I give you can be thrown out as inadmissible evidence because of consanguinity. Any good defense attorney would see that."

"Damn it, Kelly." Booth swore through clenched teeth as she brushed by him, heading for the stairs down. "Don't make me do this." He pleaded as he chased after her. "Kelly, this is stupid." She had started down the stairs and as Booth went to grab her arm, she nimbly moved out of his reach. "I really don't think you're capable of murder, not the Kelly I knew."

"That's just the problem." She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned around to look up at him. "You don't know me at all. You had no intention of knowing who I am now and you made that very clear."

As Booth stood there in stunned silence, Kelly whirled around and approached the nearest field agent.

"You might want to call the FBI and get a new lead agent on this case." The agent looked at the petite blond with amusement. "Tell them that Agent Seeley Booth cannot complete his duties here because his little sister is the prime suspect."

At that moment, Brennan's head popped up from behind the bar and her eyes flew from Booth to the bar manager, quickly analyzing the situation.

"Kelly, don't walk away." Booth called out. "I'm warning you."

Without looking back, Kelly walked towards the front door.

"Don't make me do it." He called out one more time with a tone of desperation. Kelly kept walking. Taking a deep breath, Booth called out, "I don't care who does it, but somebody arrest her."

Police officers and FBI field agents all hesitated, but as Kelly turned around and smiled sadly at Booth, the police officer who had first welcomed Booth and Brennan took out his handcuffs and placed them on Kelly's wrists.

"You have the right to-"

"I know my rights, thank you." She nodded but she never took her eyes off of Booth. He was standing across the room, muttering something to one of the FBI agents. The agent made her way across the room and gently took Kelly's arm.

"You're coming with me." She said, almost apologetically

"I know." Kelly nodded her head. As she was turned and led up the stairs, she never took her eyes off of Booth.


	2. Chapter 2

"The victim is an African-American male, in his late 20s to early 30s." Brennan rattled off what she got from her initial assessment as Booth drove her back to the Jeffersonian. "He's either been dead for a few months or some agent was used to speed up decomposition…" She looked over at Booth. His jaw was locked and his eyebrows furrowed in a way that she had never seen before. She quickly glanced down at the steering wheel and saw his hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. "Perhaps he was abducted by aliens and returned in the early hours of the morning."

"Uh huh." Booth nodded.

"You're not listening." If she was capable of whining, she thought to herself, that last statement would have been very annoying. But it wasn't. It was fact.

"Bones," Booth sighed. "I just arrested my sister."

"Your secret sister." She prodded.

"Not a secret." He shook his head. "Just…"

"Disowned?" Brennan tried to finish his thought and he shook his head again. "Run away?"

"She got lost." He tried to explain

"Well I'm sure you did everything in your power to find her." She attempted to comfort him.

"Not that kind of lost… I mean, yeah, I didn't know where she went, but she just…" He shrugged. "I don't want to talk about it. What do you have on the pile of ooze?"

"I already told you." She reminded, not particularly in the mood to repeat herself.

"Right." He nodded.

Brennan sighed and looked out the window. She wasn't going to try anymore. Not for the moment, at least.

*

Brennan slowly opened the door to the interrogation observation room and saw Dr. Lance Sweets there, flipping through a folder. He looked up and smiled as Brennan made her way into the room.

"Did you know about her?" He asked, the direction of his gaze shifted to the diminutive blond now sitting in the interrogation room with her legs pulled in to her chest and her arms protectively holding herself in a ball.

"No." She shook her head. "Is that her file?"

Sweets nodded and handed it over to Brennan and she flipped through it.

"She's in law school." Sweets provided "At The George Washington University. She had a history with drugs." Brennan looked up with surprise, not seeing and prior arrests on her record. "She went to rehab." He explained. When Brennan looked up again, he answered her silent question. "She went to a state run rehabilitative program, not a private one. I secured her medical and psychological profile."

"Booth said she got lost." Brennan said softly as she continued to flip through it.

"I think," Sweets said slowly, "That she didn't get lost so much as Booth had to cut her loose." Brennan looked up from the folder and Sweets continued. "The dates coincide with him coming back from war, starting his career with the FBI… he had his own stuff to deal with. Having a problem child as a little sister was probably more than he could handle."

"Booth would never do that. He wouldn't just cut someone off without a good reason." Brennan defended.

"He did have a good reason." Sweets nodded as the door to the interrogation room opened and Booth walked through. Kelly's position shifted immediately into sitting straight up and she glared at him. "He loved her, that's why."

Brennan looked confused, but heard Booth talking and decided to let it drop until after the questioning.

"You're going to think before you answer." Booth warned. "Think long and hard."

"I hardly think a wayward sister will ruin your career." She sneered

"You aren't thinking." He warned again. "Everything you say can be used against you. I have people sitting in there watching." He pointed at the mirror. "We're going to do this the right way, but I am going to advise you to shut your mouth for once and think."

Kelly's eyes never left his as she nodded, almost imperceptivity.

"What happened this morning between the hours of 2 and 10." He didn't ask, he demanded.

"I closed the bar early. I was home sleeping until about 6am this morning, then I went to class." She responded with a muted tone

"Why did you close early?"

"There was no one there. It was me and my bartender from about 10 to around midnight. When my bartender isn't making tips, I see no point in staying open." She explained.

"Who was the last person to leave the bar?"

"Me." She nodded and he sat back. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. "At midnight I had Cara, my bartender, clean up the bar, count her till, then I sent her home. I sat in the office until about 1am, counting the night's deposit. I locked it in the safe in the office, locked the office door, then I went out the back doorway to the alley and I locked that. I live about two blocks from there, so I walked home, went to bed and woke up, like I said, at 6am for school."

"When you left, to the best of your knowledge, there was no one there at the bar?"

"No one." She confirmed

"Do you see how he's sitting? How he's leaning in?" Sweets whispered to Brennan "It's like he's yearning to cross that invisible boundary that's between them. He's not asking questions to trip her up, he's playing it safe."

"That how you qualify love?" Brennan looked skeptically.

"He raised her. I'd put my money on it. She's about ten years younger, so he was old enough to take an almost paternal role in her life. Knowing Booth the way I do, I'd even say that he blames himself for her drug use."

"He feels guilty for even putting her in this situation." Brennan nodded and Sweets looked at her with surprise. "What? I can't make psychological observations?"

"No, it's just…" Sweets smiled. "I think you're very accurate with your assessment."

"Thank you." Brennan turned her attention back to the interview.

"Who had access to your keys." Booth demanded. Somewhere along the line of questioning, Kelly had become agitated and was pacing around behind the table.

"No one. Me. They were in my purse." She shrugged.

"I need your keys for testing." Booth said slowly

"Fine." She paused and looked at him. "Wait, why?"

"There are marks on the bones, on the arms." He explained. "The squints said it looked like defensive wounds made with keys or some other small, serrated metal object."

"I didn't kill anyone." She said defiantly.

"I know." Booth softly nodded.

"You know?" Kelly's laugh hid a touch of hysteria. "No you don't! We wouldn't be here if you were certain. But as far as you know, I'm still high. You think that me and my meth could have done it. There's suspicion all over your face! You don't know how, not yet, but you're going to find out! You think I did it! You're not 100% committed to that theory, but there's part of you that's questioning me…. Me!"

"Enough!" Booth stood up so forcefully that he sent his chair flying backwards. Brennan and Sweets jumped a little bit when they heard the tone of his voice. "Sit down." He commanded.

"You can't tell me what to do!" She said defiantly. "You're not my father."

"Kelly Ann," Booth barked, "You sit your ass down, right now."

They held each other's stare for what seemed to Brennan as an eternity. Kelly's eyes never left his as she sank into the waiting chair, her arms still crossed in rebellion.

"Again, I'm going to remind you that everything you say is on the record. People are watching." Booth started more calmly. "I can't hold you. But I'm going to warn you, don't do anything stupid." He whipped his body around and quickly started towards the door. When he reached for the handle, he softly told her, "Being mad at me isn't going to solve anything." And with that, he exited the room.

Brennan and Sweets waited for him to come into the observation room, but when he didn't, Brennan looked at the woman in the other room and suddenly saw a very scared little girl.

"I'm going to try something." She murmured to Sweets and left the room. Tentatively, she made her way into the interrogation room and Kelly looked up in surprise. "Hi, Kelly, I'm Doctor Temperance Brennan, I'm-"

"The Forensic Anthropologist." She nodded "We've studied some of your work in my Forensic Law class."

"What year are you in law school?" She asked, taking the seat Booth had been occupying

"Just started my third." Kelly told her

"You work until 2am most nights and then wake up at 6am?" Brennan looked honestly amazed and Kelly smiled sarcastically

"What else are you supposed to do when your family cuts you off?"

"I admire your commitment." Brennan said candidly

"Thank you."

"Are you as committed to your regulars as you are to your paycheck?" She asked suspiciously and Kelly raised an eyebrow.

"I know every single one. I know who's cheating on their wives and who owes money to the IRS." Kelly nodded, accepting Brennan's challenge.

"Have any been missing lately?"

"You mean, you think the victim is a regular?" She laughed. "Now that is the ultimate irony."

"Think, Kelly." Brennan encouraged.

"No, everyone has been…" She trailed off. "Omar."

"Who?" Brennan sat forward and tried to look encouraging.

"Omar Johnson. He was in my study group and he started coming to the bar. He was struggling with classes… When we weren't busy, I'd take a little study break with him. He didn't show up for classes on the first day this past year… I thought he just dropped out." Kelly shook her head. "But I couldn't imagine him not telling me…"

"This Omar, did he have any identifying markers? A limp? Anything?" Brennan asked

"He, uh…" Kelly pointed to her upper lip. "What's that called again… a cleft pallet? He had it fixed when he was a kid."

"Thank you, Kelly." Brennan nodded and stood up. "You've been very helpful."

"Can I go?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Brennan had been missing the familial link between Booth and Kelly until she caught a slight glimmer of amusement behind her eyes, something that had been missing from Booth's eyes since the surgery.

"I'll double check." Brennan nodded

*

"You interrogated my sister?" Booth chased after Brennan as she made her way up to the platform at the Jeffersonian.

"You have a sister?" Hodgins perked up as the two scrambled onto the platform.

"She holds a lot of valuable information that you were overlooking." Brennan shrugged and looked at her newest assistant. "Any signs of a cleft pallet?"

"A cleft pallet?" Booth crinkled his eyes "What does that have to do with my sister?"

"What is Kelly doing in town?" Cam came up behind them

"You knew about his sister?" Brennan looked at Cam and she nodded.

"You have a sister?" Angela, who had been standing across the lab, made her way up to the platform.

"Yes, I have a sister. Half sister. Whole pain in the ass." Booth threw his hands out to stop the questions. "Why did you question her?" He looked at Brennan

"Because you wouldn't." Brennan turned back to her assistant to and looked at him expectantly.

"There is evidence of surgery." The assistant held up the freshly cleaned skull

"A cleft pallet." Brennan took the skull between her hands. "Your sister, the one you refused to interrogate, just identified the victim."


	3. Chapter 3

Booth walked solo through the halls of the FBI, having left Brennan at the Jeffersonian to continue her investigation as to what killed Omar Johnson. Ed Ream had given the FBI the contact list for all of his employees and Booth had to start the slow, tedious task of interviewing every single one of them.

Before he pushed open the door, he looked at the list, smirked and walked inside.

"Alexander Rodriguez?" He couldn't contain the joy he felt when he said that name. "A-Rod?"

"Yeah." A tall man with blond hair sat across from him, his chiseled features set in a defiant expression. "No jokes. No relation."

"No, I just," Booth smiled. "Never mind." He sat down across from Alexander. "So where were you on Monday morning from 2am to 10am?"

"At my girlfriend's apartment, sleeping." Alex challenged. Booth shrugged, not really willing to take the challenge.

"Do you know a man named Omar Johnson?" Booth slid the picture he had found across the table towards Alex.

"Yeah, he's my girlfriends study partner." He slid the picture back muttering, "I know what he looks like."

"Girlfriend's study partner?" Booth swallowed, seeing Alex in a new light. He looked at his bare arm and noticed a half-sleeve tattoo peaking out from underneath his t-shirt. He noticed the earrings in his ears.

"Yeah, Kelly Booth. The manager. She was in here this morning." Alex prompted and suddenly Booth realized that he had never introduced himself, a split second before he realized that Alex didn't know who he was either. Kelly hadn't told her own boyfriend. "Look, I know Kelly." Alex took Booth's silence as a cue to continue. "She wouldn't hurt a fly, if that's what you're looking for."

"Ms. Booth has been cleared." Booth cleared his throat.

"Then why am I here?" Alex looked confused

"Standard procedure, checking out all the employees." Booth nodded, trying to shake off his conflicting emotions. "You're a bartender?"

"Yeah." Alex nodded

"Access to keys for the bar?"

"I don't have them, but I can always ask Kelly for them." Alex shrugged

"Do you always ask?" Booth noted Alex's admission of, at one time, having possession of keys.

"Yeah. That's just wrong." Alex looked surprised "She keeps them in her purse. That's something you just don't go through… a woman's purse and her phone. Privacy, dude, is key."

"Well, dude," Booth mocked. "I guess we're done then." He pushed his chair back and barely got out of the room before he felt a shiver run down his spine. He didn't like Alexander Rodriguez and he didn't know if it was because Alex was dating Kelly or because Alex just called him "dude".

*

"Yes, thank you, Assistant Director." Brennan nodded, pacing around her office with her phone pressed to her ear. "Of course. Let me know once it's been reassigned." She hung up the phone and headed back to her desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Angela standing in the doorway.

"Angela!" She jumped slightly "You startled me."

"Every one is really jumpy today." Angela took a few steps in. "It's like the news of Booth having a little sister has rocked out little lab."

"The case is being reassigned to another agent." Brennan offered.

"Does that mean you're off the case too?" Angela walked over to the couch and settled herself upon it.

"No, I promised to bring the new agent up to speed once we figure out something… anything." Brennan sighed and sat down next to Angela.

"You don't want to find out, do you?"

"Find out what?"

"That it was Booth's sister who killed that guy."

"She didn't." Angela looked at Brennan skeptically. "I'm fairly certain that she is too small to move a body and if she is anything like Booth, she's not capable of murdering someone and then placing him in a refrigerator."

"What if she's nothing like Booth? Could she do it then?" Angela smiled, seeing her friend's defense of this girl as an admission of her need to protect Booth.

"No, she simply… she's too small." Brennan shook her head. "Angela, you should have seen her, she's tiny. She's blond. Her facial features are too soft to be related to Booth."

"He said she was only his half sister. Maybe her mother-"

"No, there's more. She's nothing like Booth, physically…" Brennan stopped "But he's there."

"What do you mean?" Angela looked confused, but continued to be supportive

"He left the investigation without telling me." Brennan looked at her phone as if it were about to ring. "He wouldn't do that."

"Call him." Angela encouraged and Brennan looked up with hope. "Sweetie, he's not going to be able to walk away from this case, so let him know you're still working just as hard as you would be if he was still on it."

Brennan stood up, suddenly needing fresh air. After she excused herself, she made her way down the hallway, dialing Booth's number as she walked. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the familiar ring tone ringing down the hallway, from the opposite direction. She whirled around on her heals and took off running, chasing down the sound. As she turned the corner, she saw him sitting there on a bench with his cell phone sitting beside him. He didn't even look up as she came over and sat down next to him.

"That was a brave thing you did stepping down." She said softly after a minute.

"It wasn't brave." He scoffed. "I just realized that Kelly was right. I'm not 100% sure she didn't kill Omar. I don't think I could ever be sure and I can't look for the real killer while I'm questioning my own sister." He put his head in his hands. "Where did we go wrong?"

Brennan tentatively placed her hand on his shoulder and started to rub his back in what she hoped was a soothing motion. The tension seemed to melt from his face after a moment and he looked up at her.

"I'm going to prove to you she didn't do it." Brennan promised.

"How do you know?" He asked flatly

"My gut." She smiled and he gave a little smile back.

"I haven't seen Kelly in over 10 years." He said suddenly. "I taught her how to ride a bike. I mutilated her Barbie dolls behind her back." He smiled at the memory. "I bought her new ones when she cried about it. I did more first aid on that child…" he shook his head. "I joined the Rangers when she was 7. When I left, somehow her mother got custody… I don't know what happened, but when I came home, she was different. When she was 15, my parents fought for custody again and won. She had been in and out of rehab by the time she was 16." Booth saw the questioning look in Brennan's eyes and continued to explain. "My father had an affair, she was the surprise. Her mother wasn't fit for motherhood, and as hard as it was for my mother to accept the affair and sins of her husband, that little girl, in her eyes, was sin-free. Plus, she had two boys… She wouldn't have Kelly living any other place."

"Your mother cared for a child that was her husband's bastard?"

"No!" Booth looked up and Brennan look startled. "She's not a bastard." He continued slowly. "Bastard implies that she's imperfect, a false child." He shook his head. "She's not imperfect at all. She's willful, spoiled and spirited, but not imperfect."

"That's why you left the case." Brennan nodded "She's not your father's baby, she's yours."

"It was hard at first." Booth nodded. "I was 10. I knew what she was and it was hard not to look at her and see her for what she truly was: my father's baby. It was hard not to blame him for ruining the family. For a while I thought it was Kelly that ruined the family, but it was ruined before Kelly even came along. She helped us, she helped me."

"And you couldn't help her." Brennan stated and Booth looked up with surprise.

"No," He sighed. "I guess I couldn't."

"You feel guilty for that." Brennan confirmed.

"I do. For more than 10 years, I haven't known if she was alive or dead. And to make it worse, I can't honestly say I cared."

"You thought she betrayed your family."

"Of course she did! She turned into everything we told her not to be!" Booth stood up in agitation and began to pace in front of the bench.

"She's in law school." Brennan reminded.

"Now." Booth sniffed a little, not willing to admit a weakness. He stopped and looked at Brennan "You're not going to tell me that all this is irrational thought? That I'm being ruled by emotion and not reason?"

"No." Brennan surprised him with that answer. "I see nothing about this situation that I should counter. I have no need to mock you or your methods right now."

"Thanks." He plopped back down on the bench next to her

"However, I do think that you need to go talk to her."

"I can't." He shook his head. "Not until this is over."

"She needs you." Brennan tried to persuade him.

"How do you know?" Booth muttered without looking at her.

"Because," She smiled. "Little sisters always need their big brothers… even if they've been abandoned. In fact, that's when they need them the most."

"That's not the same..." He tried to continue, but she stopped him.

"To you, maybe." She shrugged. "But not to her."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter (and another future chapter) actually inspired a little back story, which I will be editing and putting up within a few days time. Thanks for all of you who have been reading! Please review and let me know what you think! If you absolutely hate it, I can go away forever, I promise. Okay, I can't promise... but just let me know!

* * *

Booth knew Bones was right. He should have gone to talk to Kelly, but he just wasn't ready. Maybe it was his failures, maybe it was hers… he didn't know. He tossed ideas around in his head, not liking the inconsistent emotions, as he walked down the corridor of the FBI building on his way to meet with Agent Shifflett, the agent who had taken over for him. He was passing the interrogation rooms when he noticed a familiar blond ball sitting on the bench.

"Kelly?" He called and his sister's head popped up and she glared at him.

"Did you even bother to pass on your notes to the new guy or do you not even bother with protocol?" She sneered

"What are you talking about?" He approached the bench slowly, almost fearful of what she would do.

"He called as all back in to question us again. Same questions, different guy." She pushed some hair out of her eyes. "They took my keys. Alex is in there now."

"I told you they would be testing keys." He said and than immediately wished he could put the words back in his mouth. He had sounded too high and mighty and he knew it wouldn't go over well. Her face soured, but he continued. "I had to tell them why I was stepping down and they're just covering their bases."

They sat in silence for a minute, neither one knowing what to say. Kelly regarded her brother with surprising tenderness. Time had been good to him. The last time she saw him, he had been hardened by war, every fiber of his being radiated an awareness of the horrors of the world. Now, he was looking at his hands, but she saw in his profile a softer side, she saw the protective older brother she once knew.

Finally, Booth cleared his throat and broke the stillness.

"So…" He looked at her "Law school?" She nodded "How are you paying for it?" He bit his tongue. Another bad question, but she answered.

"Scholarships, grants, loans, getting less than four hours of sleep a night… I'm working for it." She mumbled, not willing to throw Booth a bone, but not entirely willing to continue being cold and distant.

"Why did you go to law school?" He asked. He figured he had to start somewhere.

"I got a lot of help once you weren't around anymore." She said bitterly, but it was her turn to wish she could take back her words once she saw the pain written across his face.

"I'm glad you got help." He said after he recovered.

They sat in more silence, but this time it was Kelly who broke.

"I know you have a son." She blurted and he looked confused. "I talk to Alice occasionally. I get updates."

"She didn't tell me." He said softly, thinking back to the last time he had talked to his own mother. It felt like it had been months, maybe even last Christmas.

"I heard about the Purple Heart, too." She looked him over, obviously checking for any signs of visible scarring. "Sorry you got hurt."

"I'm ok now, I guess." He shrugged. "I wish I had known you were in DC."

"I came after rehab. I got my GED while I was there, went to community college in Northern Virginia, then I applied to American University." She looked down at her hands. "I knew you had just started working for the FBI, but I was too proud to call." Answering his unasked question. "Maybe I wanted you to suffer a little bit. Maybe I didn't want to know if I was forgotten."

"I could never forget you." He breathed out in relief that Kelly had taken the responsibility for this conversation.

"How's Jared?" She asked suddenly, as if she had just remembered that there were 3 of them growing up.

"You don't know? He's in India." Booth informed her. "On his motorcycle."

"Do you know that Turkey has the worst traffic in the world? Especially in Istanbul. Terrible." She shook her head. "Izmir claims the best drivers, but they're only the best because all the bad ones have died in automobile accidents."

"He's safe. Not being in Turkey helps." Booth smiled tenderly. "I'll email him and let him know you're here."

"Thanks." She smiled back. He could always read her tangential rants perfectly.

At that moment, Booth's phone started vibrating and he looked at the caller ID.

"Hold on a second." He looked at Kelly then answered his phone. "Bones. What is it?" He listened, silently nodding his head. He cast a glance Kelly then looked down at the floor. "Are you sure?" He asked, nodded again and then said, "Thanks." He hung up the phone and suddenly he grabbed Kelly's arm and yanked her up off the bench and down the hallway.

"Hey!" She protested.

"Shut up, you're in my custody." He hushed

"Why? Alex drove me! I'm supposed to be waiting for him!" She cried as he pulled her past the elevator and to the stairs. Once inside the stairwell, he pushed her into a corner and pointed a finger at her. She thought he was going to yell, but very softly he said,

"There was blood found on your keys. DNA matches Omar Johnson. You don't need to explain yourself now, but you're in my custody until we can straighten this out." He grabbed her arm again and led her down the stairs.

"I didn't kill Omar." She insisted

"I know." He said through his teeth

"No you don't, because if you knew, we'd be marching to Agent Shifflett, telling him what was just found instead of running away."

"He's going to know soon enough. And we aren't running away." Booth stopped on the landing and turned to her. "You're right, I don't know that you didn't kill Omar, but I trust you when you say you didn't. You need to trust me now. His blood on your keys does not look good for you." He pulled on her arm again, but she followed willingly.

"Where are we going?" She asked pleadingly

"To figure this out."


	5. Chapter 5

Kelly trailed sullenly after Booth as they entered the Jeffersonian lab. Booth had assured her that she wasn't on the run, but she was simply under his protective custody while they investigated the murder. "You were framed." He had told her, "that has to be the answer, so who's to say they aren't coming after you next?" She didn't try to correct him, not pointing out that Omar had been missing for months, if the person wanted to kill her too, she would be dead already. She knew he wouldn't listen.

Booth asked her to wait in front of a platform while he went up and proclaimed: "Well, I brought you a suspect, prove she didn't do it."

Brennan turned around and saw Kelly standing there and smiled at her. Kelly couldn't help but smile back.

"She can come up, Booth." Brennan said in a tone that should have been admonishment, but wasn't. She skipped down the stairs, swiped her card and motioned for Kelly to follow her. Once Kelly was on the platform, she had a team of scientists staring her down.

"This is Kelly Booth." Brennan introduced them one by one and included their specialties. After she introduced Angela Montenegro, Angela stepped forward and smiled.

"I like your nail polish." Angela looked down at Kelly's nails. "A law student with lime green nails… very edgy."

"I don't like to be normal." Kelly shrugged and added quickly, "Thanks."

"Ok, let's talk shop." Booth clapped his hands together. "Do we have a murder weapon?"

"I thought you were off the case." Cam approached from around the table of bones

"I am, but I just figured-"

"Is that Omar?" Kelly took a step closer to the table and looked at the bones.

"If we knew you were coming, I would have covered the bones." Brennan apologized.

"No, it's cool." Kelly looked at the bones with awe. "I just can't imagine his skin ever being attached to that. It's so hard to picture."

"Would you like to see him again?" Angela asked softly and without taking her eyes away from the bones, Kelly nodded. "Can I steal her for a moment?" Angela asked both Booth and Brennan and they both nodded. "Come on, Kelly." Angela led her off the platform and towards the office.

"Why did you bring her?" Cam hissed the second Kelly was out of earshot. "What good is that going to do?"

"Can't we do some tests? Prove she didn't do it?" Booth asked "You know, do your Squinty thing."

"We don't even have a cause of death yet, Booth." Brennan said apologetically "The remains were in terrible shape, but we're working on it."

"Can you work faster?" He asked, frustrated.

"There were some particulates on the body when it first came in," Hodgins tried to sound hopeful "And string, maybe to bind him? I'm working on classifying it all right now." To prove his point, he turned his back to them and seemed to start sifting through objects.

"We know he wasn't killed last night." The assistant who Booth didn't recognize interjected. "The level of decomp was months at the earliest, so whoever killed him had to be strong enough to move the body from one location to another to be stored and then to the refrigerator where he was found."

"Or had some help." Booth groaned. "This does nothing for me."

"We're working on it." Brennan reassured him and allowed Cam to guide him off the platform.

"Why don't you take Kelly back to your apartment." Cam suggested softly. "You haven't seen each other in a long time. Or take her out to eat… she's been in and out of the FBI all day."

"Cam, you don't understand." Booth shook his head.

"Seeley," Cam put her hands firmly at his elbows. "I went with you to her mother's funeral. I understand that you were devastated when she didn't show up. I saw how losing her tore you up and I couldn't compete with a ghost. You two need to figure out where you're going from here."

Booth nodded slowly, suddenly seeing what Cam saw all those years ago: he missed his little sister more than he had realized.

As if on cue, Angela and Kelly emerged from Angela's office giggling amongst themselves.

"I didn't know that anyone could do that!" Kelly laughed

"Oh sweetie, I can do a lot more than that." Angela teased and then started giggling again.

"Do what?" Booth asked nervously.

"Nothing." They said at the same time and then started giggling again.

*

"So," Booth used a French fry to push around the other fries on his plate. "Would you like to meet Parker?" He looked across the table expectantly and Kelly smiled.

"Your son?" Booth nodded "Yeah! Of course!"

"You know, he looked like you when he was a baby." Booth swallowed the fry he was chewing on "Same big, dumb empty look."

"Shut up." Kelly laughed. "Alice said he looked like you."

"Mom also had Lasik since he was born. I bet she'd change her opinion now that she can see." He teased.

They sat in an awkward silence for a moment before Kelly cleared her throat.

"I guess this is what it would have been like… us grown up."

"What do you mean?" Booth looked at her curiously

"I feel like we missed a lot." She shrugged. "Do you remember the last time we spent more than five minutes together?"

"You mean before you murdered someone?" Kelly shot him a look that really could have killed someone.

"I was 10 and just had my tonsils out. It was before my mom came back for me."

Booth nodded, "I took my leave early, just to make sure you'd be okay." He shook his head "The next time I saw you, I was picking you up at a bar, letting you know my parents won custody. Little did I know you'd be going off to rehab the next morning."

"I hated you then."

"I wasn't too fond of you, either." Booth quickly changed the subject. "So, law school?"

"I feel like we've been here before." Kelly smiled, glad for a lighter subject.

"I knew you always loved to argue, but a lawyer?" He shook his head. "That's too uptight for you."

"I want to be a criminal advocate." She held up her hand before Booth could say anything. "Did you know that 90% of wrongful convictions are due to faulty evidence or coerced confessions? I know what you do is legit and you'd never send an innocent person to jail, but it happens. Sadly, the world isn't make up of Seeley Booths and Temperance Brennans."

"So you're not batting for the wrong team?" Booth eyed her.

"There is no wrong team when it comes to people."

"Excuse me? I've met the scum of the earth and there is a wrong team."

"And I'm sure you caught them and if you do your job well and can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are indeed guilty, the job of the defense attorney is to be ethical and make sure that their client, the scum of the earth as you say, is treated fairly and not being subjected to cruel or unusual punishment for their crimes." She said patiently and smiled. "But what I have a problem with is your counterparts all over the nation who can't do their job right and do send innocent people to jail."

"When you put it that way…" Booth shrugged.

"Meaning when I compliment you…" Kelly laughed as her phone started ringing. She looked down and then looked at Booth. "It's Alex."

"Answer it, but don't tell him exactly where you are." Booth added, "Just to be safe."

"Hello?" Kelly picked up her phone. "No, I'm still with the FBI. Sorry… I wasn't expecting to run into… What? No, I can't…. Why? It's an open investigation, Alex, we can't go anywhere, plus I have school… Look," She lowered her voice into a whisper. "I'll come when I get the chance… Where?... then I'll meet you there later tonight…. I love you, too." She closed her phone and looked up at an expectant Booth. "He says he's been cleared and he wants to get away for a while. He's not ready to go back to work."

"Where are you meeting him later?" Booth asked warily

"The bar next to his apartment. It's his favorite place to hang out." She shrugged.

"How did you meet him?" Booth asked, "At the bar?" Kelly nodded, "Is he a good guy? Do you love him?"

She shrugged, "He's good for now. I have no real intention for it to be more than what it is."

"Oh. I see."

"If he wants to get away, then I'll let him." She smiled "I'm about to graduate law school. I've got the whole world waiting for me and I'm not going to let anyone get in my way of that."

"That sounds like a motive for murder." Booth teased lightly, trying not to offend her and not knowing how far he could push her.

"I don't get why someone would kill Omar. He wasn't the top of our class, he didn't owe anybody any money…" She shook her head "He was a sweet guy who had bit off a little more than he could chew. He was a wallflower. No one ever noticed him." She said sadly.

"But you did." He pointed out and Kelly shrugged "Kelly, you just found out a friend died this morning, are you sure you're okay with this?"

"People come and go." She shrugged again. "You get used to it. I knew something was wrong when Omar didn't come back to classes, but… they come and they go."

"You didn't think to file a missing persons report? Call the police?" He asked incredulously

"Why? I didn't know where he lived or if he had family in the area…" She looked sad. "We just helped each other study. We would go to the library or he'd meet me at the bar for study breaks… That was the extent of our relationship." It saddened Booth to see his once fun-loving and trusting sister sound so callous. "Look," She said, reading the expression on his face, "I thought about it, but it occurred to me that he might not be missing, he might have just dropped out of school. But now," She shook her head "Now I think I should have."

They sat in silence again, both just picking at their food when Kelly whispered,

"I never did drugs."

"What?" The fry he had been holding dropped to the plate. Had he heard right? Was the entire reason Kelly was cut out of his life a lie?

"Once or twice I tried some of Mom's stuff, but I never made a habit of it." She shrugged "The only thing I'm guilty of is running away from Mom, having an occasional beer and hanging out with the wrong crowd. Oh, and the tattoo…"

"You ran away?" Booth leaned in "Where did you go?"

"Would you believe I slept at a laundromat?" She smiled "I wanted to go back home, back to Dad and Alice, but I knew they would get in trouble for me being there… so I just disappeared. That's why Mom thought I was doing drugs, because disappearing was something she was good at." She shrugged again "And when she confronted me, I didn't see any reason to contest it because if I was doing drugs and she was doing drugs, the courts would have to put me back where I belonged."

Booth stared at her for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"You went to rehab!" He reminded

"Hey, I was hurting. I was troubled… I just…" She laughed as well "Let's just say, my withdrawal was amazingly painless."

"Dad cut you off… Why didn't you-"

"At least I'm committed to my lie." She rolled her eyes. "Think about it. Dad paid for rehab, if he found out I had lied to get back with them and made him spend all that money, he would have cut me off anyway. I just wanted to give you all a reason, too. One that wouldn't paint Dad as-"

"Evil?" Booth scoffed.

"If there was a good reason, I figured out that you, Alice and Jared would understand." She smiled sadly "I knew I was a goner one way or another… Why not go out with a bang?"

"I can't believe you lied… all these years…" he shook his head

"I don't want to think about it anymore. Hey, remember? Law student… I've got the entire criminal world waiting for me to get out and save them!" She cocked her head to one side and giggled as Booth cringed.

He was about to say something as his phone went off. He flipped it open, read the message, and then looked up at Kelly with a look so calm, she questioned the panic she thought she saw flicker through his eyes.

"I'm taking you back to the Jeffersonian." He said as he rapidly pulled money out of his wallet and threw it on the table.

"Why?" She asked as he reached across the table to pull her out of her seat.

"Shifflett has the information on your keys. He's obtained a search warrant to go through your apartment." He practically pushed her out of the restaurant.

"They aren't going to find anything." Kelly promised again

"Somehow you got Omar's blood on your keys… who knows what else is going to be found."

"Nothing!" Kelly stopped in front of his black SUV.

"I'm dropping you off at the Jeffersonian." He repeated.

"Why?" She demanded as she slid into the passenger seat.

"I'm going over to your apartment." He turned on the car.

"Seeley…" Kelly realized what he meant to do. He was going to conduct his own investigation and hopefully hide anything before the other agents found it. "Don't ruin your career for this."

"Cross your fingers it doesn't come down to that." He shook his head and pulled out of the parking space.


	6. Chapter 6

Booth looked down at the little piece of paper on which Kelly had used to scribble her address. He pulled into a parking space and saw Brennan's car a few spaces down and knew he had the right place. As he got out of his car, he fingered his badge, not knowing who would be standing at the door. Luckily, he got in without contest and made his way up to Kelly's third floor apartment. He reached the door and gently pushed it open.

There was an assortment of FBI field agents and technical specialists throughout the tiny apartment, rifling through everything they could get their hands on. There was a bookshelf by the window with books and CDs on it which occupied two agents. Someone was going through the draws in the kitchen, another picking up pillows and cushions off a couch which, in Booth's opinion, had seen better days. No one questioned him being there, so he sought out Bones.

He walked down a narrow hallway and peered into a tiny, out-of-date blue bathroom. An agent was sorting through the medicine cabinet, but didn't acknowledge Booth's presence, so he continued on his way.

"Bones!" He called out softly as he saw her, standing in the doorway to the bedroom.

"Booth!" She turned around in surprise and whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"What have you found?" He asked while casting glances over his shoulder

"Nothing yet." Brennan sighed. "We think the murder weapon is a small cylindrical object. There were markings on the bones that suggest a cork screw or something like that." She looked over her shoulder. Booth was making her nervous. "Unfortunately for your sister, she looks like she's had training as a bartender and there are several cork screws in the house."

"Killed by a wine opener?" Booth made a face that Brennan read as amusement.

"Stranger things have happened." She saw Shifflett approaching and pushed Booth into the bedroom. "I don't know if it's better for you to look busy or just stand there." She gestured towards Shifflett.

"Booth!" Shifflett called out as he came down the hallway. A muscular man in his early 30s, Shifflett struck fear into the hearts of many, but Booth saw him as a green agent; still getting his feet wet.

"Shiff!" Booth called out with a smile and a wave.

"What are you doing here?" Shifflett's hands settled on his hips as he leered at Booth

"FBI investigation," Booth motioned towards the agents now going through Kelly's drawers. "FBI agent." He pointed at himself.

"You're not on this case." Shifflett reminded

"Ah, but that doesn't mean I can't be here." Booth smiled "Just checking in with my partner here."

"I asked him to come, as a favor to..." Brennan looked up at Booth, struggling to come up with an excuse.

"The squints. Back at the lab, working so hard…" Booth shrugged. "No time to play with the FBI guys, so they asked me to come here and…" He looked at Brennan

"See if anything matched the murder weapon." Booth cringed as Brennan smiled at Shifflett.

"That's why you're here I thought…" Shifflett eyed the pair.

"Two eyes are better than one." Booth said quickly as he pushed Bones out of the bedroom. "Come on, Bones."

"But I have two eyes." Brennan hissed as they made their way back down the hallway.

"Not the point." He said through clenched teeth. They stopped in the living room and Booth leaned up against the back of the couch. "So nothing's been found?"

"No." Brennan shook her head, but right as she was about to continue, there was a commotion in the kitchen.

"Agent Shifflett," A tech called out. "I found blood."

The tech triumphantly held up a wine opener and Booth inwardly groaned.

*

"How did you convince them to not haul me in?" Kelly was hovering around the platform as Brennan hunched over a microscope. Booth, leaning up against a counter in the corner held up the cork screw that was found at her apartment.

"This your cork screw?" He asked and she nodded.

"It's called a wine key and yeah, I own like five of them." She shrugged.

"Five?" Brennan looked up in surprise

"They got lost, stolen or switched around very easily at a bar." Kelly explained as she walked over to Booth and looked at the wine key. "But this one is mine. See how it's hinged here?" She pointed at a metal hinge on the wine key "It makes for a smoother release of the cork, less breakage."

"Ever cut yourself on one?" He asked

"Not that I recall… you argued the blood might be mine?" She looked at it more closely "I don't see any blood."

"It's there." Brennan nodded. "And it's Omar's."

"That killed Omar?" Kelly looked at it with disbelief.

Brennan walked over to Booth and took the wine key from his hand and opened up the cork screw part and mimed punching it in Booth's neck.

"Hey there." He pulled back and took the wine key from her hands.

"He bled out and died fairly quickly." Brennan said, hoping it was reassure Kelly but she just shook her head.

"My little wine key…" She looked at it with wonder.

"But you say they get switched a lot at work?" Booth said hopefully

"But there's no way to prove it." Kelly looked defeated. "It's probably got everyone's fingerprints over it… I know Alex borrows them all of the time…"

"I need to call this in." Brennan looked up at Booth, silently asking for forgiveness.

"Yeah." Booth nodded and followed as Brennan walked off the platform towards her office. Kelly trailed after, picking a pace that would put her further and further behind. Once Booth and Brennan were almost out of her line of sight, she saw Angela walking up to her.

"Hey Kelly!" Angela greeted "How's everything going?"

"Blood on my wine key. Not looking so good." She said, shocked by the ease of admission. "Hey, I really have to use the restroom… where is it?"

"Out that door and to the left." Angela pointed. "I'll let Booth know where you went."

"Thanks." Kelly smiled and started towards the door.

*

Angela sat on a stool on the platform, working on another facial reconstruction for a new body that had been sent in from somewhere in South America. She sighed as she looked at the markers again.

"Kelly?" She heard Booth shouting from Bones's office. He walked into the main area of the lab and looked around. "Angela, have you seen Kelly?"

"Yeah, she went to the bathroom…" She looked at her watch "A long time ago. I swear I saw her come back in."

"I'll check the bathroom." Brennan reassured him. He hadn't notice her following.

"What's up?" Angela asked, suddenly concerned.

"I'm supposed to bring her in for questioning." Booth looked around nervously. "You saw her come back in?"

"I thought I did…"

"She's not in there." Brennan came running back into the lab

"Where would she have gone?" Angela stood up and looked around.

"Damn it, Kelly." Booth grabbed his cell phone and flipped it open.

"What?" Both Brennan and Angela looked at him hopefully but he was already on the phone.

"This is Agent Booth. I need the address for Alexander Rodriguez… No, the guy we brought in for questioning on the Johnson murder." He was heading for the door with Brennan right behind him.

"Booth," She called out, trying to stop him. "Booth, what is it?"

"I know who killed Omar." He said through his teeth as he sped up, racing for his car.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: I just wanted to thank all of you who have been reading and reviewing, it really means a lot to me! Also, a little shameless plug... if you haven't already, check out my little side piece called "Building Booths". For some reason I was extremely sentimental one evening and wrote a little piece of AU fluff that, honestly, is my favorite thing I've ever written. Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy the last few chapters!_

* * *

"So why did you return all of my wine keys a few months ago?" Kelly stalked into the dimly lit sports bar and came up behind Alex and he whirled around on the stool and smiled.

"They're yours, baby." He laughed.

"But I barely use them anymore." She reminded. "You've been using them at the bar, and that's fine with me… so why did you return them?"

"Why not?" He wasn't as amused this time. "Baby, what's wrong."

"I just," She leaned in closer, hoping the men he was drinking with weren't listening. "They found Omar's blood on one."

Suddenly, Alex stood up and grabbed Kelly's arm and pulled her through the bar and into the back where he pushed open the exit and threw her into the alley way.

"Ok, this needs to stop!" She said as she shook her arm free. "Everyone has been dragging me everywhere today!"

"Who's everyone?" He asked, slowly stalking towards her

"You, Seeley…" Her eyes narrowed into slits "Just because you're bigger than me does not mean you can push me around."

"Who's Seeley? Some new boyfriend?" He had stopped moving, hovering around her

"No, asswipe." She sneered, "You're the only boyfriend I have and I'm thinking it's not so great of an idea we're in this alley way right now."

She tried to get by him and get back to the door, but he stopped her.

"We're not going anywhere till we talk this out." He said sweetly. "You like talking out our problems, don't you."

"The only problem I have right now is that you're drunk." She stepped back when she caught the strong scent of alcohol coming from his direction. She used to tease him and call them the "vodka sweats" but now they were just making her nauseous.

"No, you also have a problem with Omar." He smiled a little

"I don't have a problem with Omar!" She shouted at him. "He's dead! You can't have problems with dead people."

"I know." His smile grew into an outright grin. "Because I killed him."

"What?" Kelly stepped back, shocked.

"Well, I didn't mean to… I just meant to scare him away." Alex stumbled forward, trying to catch her.

"Alex, this is ridiculous." She said slowly. As he gripped her arms, she started looking around for a way to get out of the alley safely.

"Ridiculous?" He shouted "You told Cara you were going to leave me!"

"Alex…" She thought about appealing to his rational side, explaining that they weren't working out, but rational left the alley way when they walked into it. So she did what she knew best: she lied. "Alex, I love you. I would never, ever leave you."

"You were going to leave me!" He continued shouting, taking small steps backwards as he reached into his jacket pocket. "You were going to leave me for him!" He pulled out a small pistol and aimed it at Kelly. She let out a little scream as he waved it in front of her.

"For Omar?" She panicked as he drunkenly passed it by her face. "We went to school together, we were just friends."

"You know the way he looked at you." He insisted

"No!" She put up her hands in surrender "No, I didn't! I didn't feel that way about him!"

"If I can't have you…" Alex said very slowly to control his speech.

Kelly wasn't really sure what happened next. All she felt was pain. First in her right thigh. It was sharp and sudden, radiating from what felt like a pinpoint into a gaping hole. Second, her left shoulder started pulsating, throbbing. By the time she felt something around her midsection, she had collapsed in pain.

*

"Have you seen Alexander Rodriguez tonight?" Booth leaned over and flashed his badge at the bartender and Brennan hovered nervously behind him.

"A-Rod? Yeah." He nodded and pointed down the bar towards a half-empty drink. "He was here until his girl came in. Ah, what's her name…"

"Kelly." Booth provided.

"Yeah." The bartender smiled in recognition. "She's a great girl. Anyway, she came in and they left… must not have gone far 'cause Alex didn't pay his tab." He looked warily at Booth. "You payin'?"

"Not tonight." Booth shook his head. "Where did they go?"

"I think out back…" The bartender looked down the hall with a knowing smile.

"Stop that." Booth pulled away with disgust and nodded his head in a begrudging thanks. As he and Brennan made their way to the back door, they clearly heard three shots ring out.

It took a split second, but Booth reached the door and pushed it open. The noise startled Alex and with tears still running down his face, he dropped the gun right as Booth plowed into him. Following him out, Brennan quickly surveyed the scene and saw Kelly lying in a crumpled heap on the cold pavement. Pulling out her phone, she kneeled next to Kelly and looked for a pulse as she dialed 911. She spouted off their location and urged them to hurry. Before she hung up, she looked up and saw Booth straddling Alex on the ground, pummeling him with everything he could.

"Booth!" She called "Booth, stop!" She spoke back into the phone, "Send two ambulances and cops. Hurry."


	8. Chapter 8

Brennan stepped out of the hospital elevator holding Omar Johnson's official report and a small brown bag. She made her way down the stark hallways, the only sound her clicking heels and the faint beeps of the monitors coming from all of the rooms. She rounded the corner and saw Cam sitting on a bench against a wall, caddy-corner from where Kelly Booth lay on her deathbed.

"He hasn't left her side." Cam said softly as Brennan approached.

"I would have guessed as much." Brennan sank down next to her. "Breakfast." She held up the brown bag "And the official report." She handed it to Cam

"Ooh, yay." Cam replied rather flatly while she took the report and stuck it under the bench.

"Has anything changed since I left?" Brennan craned her head to see in Kelly's doorway. She saw Booth sitting in the same chair beside her bed, but his position had changed. Instead of sitting forward, hovering over Kelly's bed, he was reclined, his head resting on his arm and his feet propped up on the frame of the hospital bed. Brennan smiled.

"Don't wake him up." Cam warned, following her gaze. "He just fell asleep. It's been rough for him."

"Do they think she's going to wake up?" She asked

"It's touch and go." Cam shrugged "The doctors keep telling him it's just going to take time, that her body has been through a lot, but she's a Booth. Painfully stubborn and unwilling to listen to anyone about anything."

"You knew her?" Brennan asked, suddenly surprised that Cam had an opinion on Kelly

"Not her, per say…" Cam shrugged. "I knew about her. I knew she was a force to be reckoned with back when she was a ghost…" Cam looked into the room "But now she's real, so I don't know what's worse."

"Are you saying things will change?"

"Things have changed." She sighed. "If she lives, there's a new person in his life. If she dies, he's going to be left with all the guilt. She's here to stay. Booth will hide it well, but his thoughts will only be about her for a while."

"He cares about her." Brennan defended.

"Oh no, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. In fact, I think it's a good thing. Seeley needs her. Right now I think he's just mad."

"Why would he be mad?" Brennan looked at Cam with a questioning stare

"Pretty young girl. Dead study partner. Jealous lover." Cam shook her head sadly. "_Agent_ Booth should have seen this one coming from a mile away. If that girl wasn't his sister, she never would have been shot."

Brennan sat back against the hard bench. She let Cam's words roll around in mind while she watched the heart monitor in Kelly's hospital room rise and fall with welcomed normalcy. She let the constant beep lend it's rhythm to a constant stream of thoughts. She didn't know Kelly. But? She liked her immediately. Why? She was usually so cautious. How? Was it because she was so important to Booth?

"Are you listening?" Cam was looking at Brennan with concerned and Brennan quickly nodded her head "I need to get back to the lab."

"I'll stay here just in case Booth needs me." Brennan nodded as Cam got up and headed down the hallway with a smile.

Booth needed her. She knew he did, but she couldn't figure out how to show him. She wanted to tell him that she would be here, but knew she needed a gesture because words would fail her. Again and again, words seemed to fail her when it came to Booth.

*

Booth didn't know how long he had been sleeping, but he awoke and immediately his honed senses kicked in and he was looking around, hoping to find clues. His eyes rested on Kelly. His painfully annoying little sister now lying helpless in a hospital bed. Tubes and wires were everywhere, making her look so much smaller than she really was.

He rubbed his hand across his chin and was surprised to feel an abundance of stubble. He stood up and stretched, walking around the room and glancing out into the hallway to see if there was a nurse around, but there was no one in the hallway.

"Dad?" He heard a weak voice from behind him and he whirled around to find Kelly awake and blinking her eyes in confusion.

"No, it's Seeley." He hurried back to his chair and sat down, his eyes searching for a sign that something was wrong, but she was breathing and the monitors were normal.

"Oh." She laughed a weak, dry laugh. "You looked like Dad."

"How are you feeling?" He asked urgently "Do you need anything?"

"Water would be fantastic." She said slowly and Booth poured her small glass with the pitcher that had been by her bedside in wait of this moment. He helped her drink it, then she flopped down against the pillow. "Alex?"

"He's in custody." Booth nodded. He didn't want to tell her he had been in the same hospital until three days ago. He felt he should just leave that fact out.

"I feel so stupid." She closed her eyes and tried to roll her head away from Booth, but because of the wires, she didn't get far.

"You couldn't have known." Booth reassured her. "As much as I want to tell you that you were stupid for dating an aggressive bartender with tattoos, you couldn't have seen this coming."

His comment achieved what he was hoping for and she turned to him and smiled.

"We all have skeletons in our closets…" She swallowed "I just have a skeleton and a murderer in mine." She looked at him with deep, liquid-like brown eyes. "He's never going to see daylight again, right?"

"Not if I have anything to do with it." He nodded, anger seething just beneath the surface.

"There was no major damage done, right?" She asked, suddenly afraid. "I am going to walk again and stuff?"

"You're lucky he was drunk." Booth shrugged. "He missed almost all of your vital organs. Surgery fixed the ones he did get."

"He missed the one thing he was aiming for." Kelly closed her eyes and answered Booth's silent question. "The heart. I think I severely misjudged him."

Booth had no response other than surprised laughter.

"What?" She blinked

"That must be worth the award for understatement of the decade." He smiled at her and she yawned, then cringed in pain. "Are you okay?"

"Pretty much every inch of me hurts."

"You got shot three times."

"How do you do it?" She asked

"Do what?" He looked at her curiously

"Get shot at for a living." She cringed again as she shifted her left arm. "Oh hey, pain."

"It's not something you really get used to." He stood up and placed a hand on her forehead. "You get some rest."

"No," She tried to pick up her hand to stop him, but it hovered above the bed then fell back down. "Don't go yet. Just stay."

He sat back down with a smile, but couldn't think of anything to say as she drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like hours. When she finally opened her eyes and looked at him again, she smiled.

"Thank you." She said simply, her voice stronger than before.

"I didn't know if I was going to get there in time."

"I knew."

"How?" Booth was exasperated.

"You've always taken care of me." She smiled a weak smile. "You're my big brother. On the playground everyone knew not to mess with me because not only did I have two big brothers, but one was Seeley Booth."

They sat in silence for a moment, the only sound was the monitors, confirming that Booth's worst fears had passed: they beeped because she lived.

"You don't remember how you came to us. You were too young." Kelly looked at him curiously and he continued. "There was a knock on our door and Dad opened it. There was this open cardboard box, of all things, and a note on the side. He read the note and then passed it to my mom. He stared at that box for a really, really long time. He wouldn't let me or Jared see what was in it. Finally, Mom pushed through, grabbed the box, brought you out and pulled our father into the study." He smiled at the memory. "I sat on the foot of the stairs, trying to listen to them fighting. I learned to tune fights out, but this one I wanted to listen to because there was a baby involved. I'll never forgot how it ended."

"With me living with you?" She said with a small, sarcastic smile.

"Well, yes, but no. Mom opened the door and turned around to Dad and said, "Mistake or not, she's your daughter. She's Seeley and Jared's sister. There's a family you're stuck with and there's a family you choose. She's not my family, but she's my husbands family and she's my sons' family. We take care of family. You're stuck with her, but I _choose_ to take care of this family." And dad just stood there with his mouth hanging wide open." Booth laughed.

"Dad not fighting back? What?" Kelly joined in his laughter.

"Mom chose you over Dad at that instant. We knew the lines were drawn and either we were stuck loving you or we would have to choose to love you." He smiled. "I don't think I had a choice in the matter, though. You're my baby sister, like it or not."

"When Dad cut me off, I thought you'd be there, catching me like always." Kelly said softly, not completely willing to admit she had always needed him.

"I would have if I had known." The words surprised Booth just as much as they surprised Kelly. "I didn't know about what happened until you had disappeared. When your mom died, my mom was sure you'd come home for the funeral, and when you didn't…"

"I couldn't forgive her. I couldn't go." She shook her head. "I couldn't forgive her for dying, I couldn't forgive her for putting me in limbo… I couldn't forgive her for not doing what Alice did. Someone who wasn't even my flesh and blood loved me more than my own mother…"

"We all loved you, Kelly." Booth let the side of his mouth curve up in a smile "Even Dad, in his sick, perverted way."

At that moment, Brennan approached the doorway, but slowed down when she heard Kelly laugh. Clutching the blanket she was holding close to her chest, she stopped and listened.

"I never really felt like I belonged." Kelly admitted softly to Booth. "Not after you left, at least. Jared tried, but he wasn't you. Dad got meaner. My mom came back into the picture…" She sighed. "You left and life got confusing. I didn't know which way was up. I didn't know who to trust…"

"I'm sorry." Booth apologized but Kelly shook her head.

"No, don't be, because it made me stronger." She explained and Brennan leaned in a little closer. "You made me stronger. Don't feel guilty for the past. I don't consider myself someone who necessarily needs protection, but knowing you're out there, makes me feel safer. Like when I was 6 and I wanted my ears pierced." Booth laughed. "Alice was going to take me, but I cried and cried, knowing it would hurt and knowing you wouldn't be there to protect me from it."

"But you wanted them pierced so badly…" Booth reminisced. "I remember that. I remember promising I'd go to the mall with you and Mom but I outright refused to go into the jewelry store. I went to food court and hung out with my friends instead."

"What you missed is that you didn't have to be physically there to protect me. Just knowing you weren't far, just in case I needed you, was all I needed."

"You were the light of my world, then." Booth admitted after a second of silence.

"And you were mine." She agreed.

"I'm sorry that changed."

"I'm not." Kelly said matter of factly and Brennan smiled, imagining Booth's face.

"What?" He asked in disbelief. Had they just not confided in each other 10 years of hurt?

"I wouldn't be who I am. I wouldn't know how to stand up for myself. I had to fight for every single thing I have… I didn't start fighting until after you left. I let life happen, now, because of you, I fight for life." She looked at him closely. "You look like crap. Go home and shower." Booth laughed and her expression didn't change. "I'm not kidding. I may have been shot, but my nose is working perfectly and you just… you just look and smell like crap."

"Alright." Booth stood up. "But promise not to slip back into a coma while I'm gone."

"Promise." She nodded with a smile.

Booth collected his things and started heading towards the door when Brennan chose that moment to walk in, almost colliding with a brick wall that was Booth.

"Oh sorry." Booth steadied her with his hands on his arms and looked down at her. "I was just leaving."

"She can stay with me while you're gone!" Kelly said from the bed.

"Would you mind?" Booth looked at her pleadingly, not really ready to leave Kelly just yet.

"No," Brennan hugged the blanket a little closer. "Not at all."

"Thanks." Booth said hurriedly and looked at Kelly. "I won't be gone long."

"I won't die." She quipped as he quickly took off down the hall. "He was starting to smell a little ripe."

"He would have showered here if you had let him." Brennan offered as she came into the room and stood by Kelly's bed.

"I didn't want him to. It looks like I've been out for a few days. He needs fresh air."

"Five." Brennan provided. "Five days. He wouldn't let us relieve him. We all tried… Me, Cam, Angela, Hodgins, Sweets…"

"Thank you."

"For what?" Brennan looked a little bit surprised

"For taking care of him." She smiled "For taking care of me and proving that I didn't kill Omar. For coming to my rescue in the alley."

"That was all Booth, but the proving you didn't kill Omar…" She tried to sound nonchalant "That's our job."

"Well then I'm glad it's your job and not someone else's." Kelly laughed.

"Oh," Brennan pulled out the blanket she had behind her back. "I thought you would want something from home." It was a blue, green and purple blanket that Kelly had on her bed at her apartment. It was made of yarn, obviously well-loved by the amount of fuzzies that were on it. Needlessly, Brennan explained. "I saw it on your bed when we were searching your apartment. It looked warm and comfortable. I assumed you would need warm and comfortable right about now."

"You assumed correctly." Kelly smiled

"I found my way when you lost yours." Brennan said softly as she spread the blanket over Kelly. "I overheard you tell Booth that you learned to fight for life, but that was out of necessity. Booth taught me to fight for life, but in a different way."

"You love him, don't you." Kelly smiled as Brennan straightened up. "It's okay, coming from someone who loves him, you could do worse. My advice is just don't let him get away. I did that once and yes, I'm a stronger person, but these past 10 years have been so empty."

"I know what you mean." Brennan nodded, thinking back to the times when she thought she might loose Booth.

"Thank you for the blanket." Kelly ran her hands of the soft material "It really means a lot to me that you did that."

"It's beautiful. Did you make it?" Brennan let her fingers brush up against the fuzzy yarn.

"I crocheted it. Turns out when you stop using drugs, you have a lot of free time on your hands." She laughed a little and then her face brightened up like she had an idea. "Can you do me a favor?" She asked excitedly and Brennan titled her head, waiting for Kelly to finish "Can you give Seeley a hug for me? I know it sounds stupid, but there's these wire and that pesky thing called pain and he's just so tall that it's really going to hurt, but I really think he should be hugged. He needs one right now."

"I think that's a very agreeable favor." Brennan nodded with a smile. "Shouldn't we just wait till you can do it, though?

"No," Kelly rested her head back against the pillow. "The sooner the better. When your world falls apart, the best thing there could be is someone willing to hold it together."

"You sound like you have experience."

"I have an older brother." Kelly explained with a wistful smile. "But he's your strength now."

Brennan couldn't help but smile as Kelly started yawning. She quietly dismissed herself, wishing Kelly sweet dreams, and ducked out of the room but didn't go far. She had every intention of going back in the room once Kelly was asleep. She had a lot more to learn about that girl.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been weeks since the shooting. Kelly had moved from the hospital, to Booth's couch, and then back to her apartment and started school again. Booth and Brennan had taken on and solved a handful of cases. Things seemed to be blessedly normal.

Brennan now sat at Booth's small kitchen table, perusing through a file on a recent case. Booth stood across from her at the stove, stirring a pot of something he promised would taste delicious.

They hadn't spoken in a while, Brennan reading the case file and Booth concentrating on Gordon Gordon's recipe, when Booth stopped stirring, picked up his bottle of beer from the counter, turned around and leaned against the counter. Brennan didn't notice his movement until he cleared his throat.

"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Booth whispered as he swirled his drink in his hand

"What?" Bones looked up from the file

"_Invictus_. The poem by William Ernest Henley." He explained and she nodded in recognition. "Our dad made us memorize it when we were younger." He smiled slightly and Brennan let him take his time, clearly lost in a memory. "And yet the menace of the years, Finds, and shall find me, unafraid."

"She forgives you because she loves you." Brennan said suddenly, realizing the memory that Booth was wandering around in was the memory of Kelly, lying helpless in the alleyway. He hadn't said it out loud, but Brennan could clearly read guilt stemming from the incident. But she also saw something in Kelly's behavior and actions that made her believe that Booth's guilt was unwarranted. "My head is bloody, but unbowed." She quoted the poem from her own memory and Booth looked up in surprise. "Everything that I find so admirable in you, pride, loyalty and a perseverance, are in her too. You taught her those things. That's not something you forget."

"We wronged her." Booth looked back down at his drink. "As a family, we wronged her."

"I don't think that matters anymore." Brennan said, reaching across the kitchen and placing her hand on his arm. "She's back, you're back." She smiled having noticed a change in Booth recently. It stung slightly knowing that she hadn't brought about that change, but she was pleased it had happened and that she could still be apart of it.

"You know what the best part of Kelly coming back into my life is?" Booth looked up with a smile. "Parker. He absolutely adores her. Rebecca is even thinking about asking her to move in, to get Kelly out of that skeezy apartment and help take care of him." A quick shimmer of jealousy passed across his face and Brennan couldn't help smiling.

"You're not used to sharing her." Brennan stated after a moment.

"No, I guess not." He carried his glass over to the table and sat across from her.

"It gets easier." She offered

"What does?" Booth looked up at her in confusion.

"Sharing someone you're close to." She nodded. "Knowing that other people love them as much as you do. You share and you make compromises."

"What is this with the psychology all of the sudden? Who are you sharing?" The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile.

"No one." _You_. "I just have some experience with this issue." She shrugged.

"I want to thank you for understanding and helping with Kelly when she first came back from the hospital." Booth pushed himself out of the seat and started fiddling around at the stove. He had cut back on his case load those first few weeks and Bones had been right there, bringing over take-out for them and being his liaison to the FBI, screening his cases and making sure he wasn't unduly bothered.

"I just-" Brennan started, then stopped herself. "You're welcome."

"You want to say something more?" Booth turned around and crossed his arms. The look on his face was one between amusement and concern and Brennan inhaled a quick breath.

"Cam knew about Kelly. Why didn't you tell me?" She asked quickly, almost embarrassed that she was even bothering to ask.

"While Cam and I were," He struggled to find the right words. "Involved, Kelly's mom died." Booth shrugged as though it was common knowledge. "Kelly was missing at that point and I hoped that she would somehow hear that her mother died and would make it to the funeral, but I wasn't ready to face her. Cam saw that and came with me." He looked at Brennan and saw the answer wasn't satisfactory. "When you came into my life, Kelly wasn't part of it. It's not exactly the best first impression. "Hi, my name is Seeley Booth, my favorite color is green, I have a disowned, missing sister and I love hockey." Really?"

"I didn't know your favorite color was green." Brennan said with a smile, hoping to gloss over his frustration.

"I didn't tell you because I lost hope." Booth took a step in and lingered inches away from her. "If there had been any part of me that thought I'd see her again, I would have told you about her."

"Perhaps that is the perfect reason why you should have told me about her." Brennan encouraged. "I could have helped you. I know what it's like to lose someone."

Booth shook his head.

"Next time I have a little sister who disappears, you'll be the first one I tell about it."

"No other secret siblings?" She asked cautiously and then smiled when he laughed.

"None that I'm aware of." He retreated back to the stove. "You know," He said after a minute of stirring the pot "Since Kelly's been back, I realized if I were to have another child, that child would be to Parker what Kelly is to me."

"Do you," Brennan took a deep breath to control her wavering voice "Do you think Parker would be the same kind of big brother you were?"

"I think he'd be a better one." He turned back around and smiled at her with a smile that made her inexplicably nervous.

Brennan smiled back, but she quickly picked up the file she had been looking at earlier.

"When does Kelly graduate law school?" Brennan looked up suddenly

"May." Booth answered without even looking up from the stove. "Why?"

"I was just thinking," She put down the case file, "That after she passes the Bar, it will be nice to have a friend in the court room again. You know, making sure everything we do sees the light of day. She could be part of the team, helping with the follow-thru."

"Part of the team?" He laughed a little. "Too bad she's going to be on the wrong team."

"What do you mean?"

"She's working on finding placements at criminal defense law offices." Booth sounded offended and Brennan couldn't help but smile.

"Criminals need lawyers too, Booth." Brennan was amused. "Someone needs to make sure the system upholds the Constitution. Everyone has the right to be protected."

"How can you say that? You look at bones of people who have been murdered by the people that Kelly will be defending!" Booth threw down his wooden spoon and turned around and looked at Bones with a look of pure terror.

"She was shot three times by her boyfriend. I think she's seen the face of the people she'd be defending, too. And I think it's admirable that she's not scared." She held up her chin. The fact that Booth was getting so riled up about Kelly's career choice touched her in a way that made her feel more connected with him. She was proud that he was so nurturing and protective towards his little sister.

"You're right." He took a deep breath. "I'm just nervous about her being a lawyer." He shook his head. "I can't explain it."

"You gave her a strong sense of honor." Brennan assured him. "She's going to be doing the right thing. She has your moral compass."

"She calls it nauseatingly correct." He smiled to himself. "Honor, duty… that's how we were raised."

"So you know she's going to be fine because you turned out just fine."

"I did, didn't I." He smiled a goofy grin at Bones and she couldn't help smiling back.

Booth's phone started ringing from the living room and he excused himself to go answer it. Subtly, Brennan listened in as he greeted the caller with a "Hey there, Munchkin". She knew immediately it was Kelly. "He called you? Jared never calls me, barely even an email!" He teased "Yeah, you can tell him I'm angry!" He laughed and started pacing around the coffee table. "He's doing what now? You know what they say…" He laughed more when she responded. "I was going to go with "when in Rome…" but that works too."

She felt an annoyingly warm feeling bubble up from deep within herself. She watched tenderly as Booth paced around his living room, flourishing his free left hand as he talked and laughed with his sister. She would tell him how she felt. One day. Eventually. Soon.

All of the sudden, she remembered the poem he had told her about, the one his father had made him memorize: _Invictus_. She had learned it in school and at once let the words carry the burden she felt as a teenager: pain, sorrow, deception and the need to rise about it all. She smiled as she repeated the lulling phrases in her head and she heard a new undertone to the poem: adventure.

_I _am_ the master of my fate_, she realized as got up to join Booth in the living room. _I _am_ the captain of my soul._

**_..fin.._**

* * *

_A/N: So that's the end. Of this story, anyway. Actually, last night while walking my dog, I was randomly inspired for a huge fight scene between Kelly and Booth… which is odd because I now have a fight scene written, but no build up and no real resolution… But I'm going to work on it. So this is the end of Invicta, but it's not the end of Kelly. Clearly I have my own issues to work through, so she's going to be around for a while. Ha ha. Actually, I noticed there was a lot of things that I needed to resolve for my characters before I could let them rest in peace. I have at __least three more stories in the works (most are one-shots, but there will be a HUGE multi-chapter piece to encompass the fight scene), so stick around if you liked my stuff!_


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